Sarah Burgert married Henry Yelser in Ohio. Once he was settled in Seattle, she traveled out to join him. Sarah Yesler was active in many civic groups including the Ladies' Relief Society, which helped the needy, and the Ladies' Library Board, which founded Seattle's public library in the home of one of the members. Mrs. Yesler was Seattle's first librarian. After she died in the late 1880s, her husband gave their home to the city to use as a library.

This portrait, taken in a Cleveland, Ohio, photographic studio, shows Sarah Yesler during the 1860s. Her center-part hair style and her high-waisted, full skirted dress are typical of that time period.